Student academic misconduct appeals against decisions made by Academic Conduct Officers

Appeals may only be made on one or both of the following grounds:

i) procedural irregularity in the conduct of the original investigations of the Academic Conduct Officer;
ii) exceptional circumstances, providing that these circumstances can be substantiated and there is a valid reason why these were not made known at the time.

You must submit your appeal in writing to the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Manager within 10 calendar days (not including University closed days or Bank Holidays, but including weekends) from date of the letter sent to you informing you of the decision of the Academic Conduct Officer. With your appeal should be sent any supporting evidence.

Appeals will be considered first by the Head of Academic Quality and Student Conduct and one of the members of the Academic Misconduct Committee not previously involved in the case. This is called the 'sifting' stage of the process. It consists of an initial assessment of readily available documentation, including your submission, information on the Student Record System and the paperwork considered by the Academic Misconduct Committee. If it is clear that that there is no case (i.e. you have not fulfilled one or both of the grounds case for the appeal to be considered), the appeal will be rejected and you will be informed of the decision. The Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Manager will so advise you in writing, stating the reasons why. If there is a case for appeal, a meeting of the Academic Misconduct Appeals Committee will be convened and you will be invited to attend.

You will be given no less than 7 calendar days’ notice of the date, time and location of the hearing.

The membership of the Academic Misconduct Appeals Committee will be different to the original Committee membership when the appeal is heard.

The form for all students to submit an appeal can be downloaded here: Academic Misconduct Appeal form - Jan 24.

Guidance for completing the Appeal form is set out in the concertina below. 

If you require the form or any other materials in an alternative format, please let us know. On request we can provide you with an electronic copy, enlarged print on coloured paper, audio recordings or Braille. 

If possible please complete the form by downloading it onto a computer and typing in the information required.  If you are unable to do this then please ensure that your handwriting is legible.

Privacy Notice and how we will process your information

The information that you give in your appeal, together with any supporting evidence, will be processed by the following:

• Members of the Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team who process your appeal;
• Representatives from your School(s) e.g. School Academic Conduct Officer who will be asked to provide information on the academic misconduct investigation and may be asked what information your School(s) Exceptional Circumstances Panel knew about (if the information is not readily available in Evision) or to comment on any procedural irregularity. The information will only be given to those staff in your School who are able to respond to the issues raised. You will be allowed to see and comment on any information the School provides. 
• Any other person or service named in your appeal who we may need to contact to check the issue you have raised. g. Examinations Staff, Finance, Disability Services, I.T. Services.

• A member of the University Academic Misconduct Committee who will consider your appeal at the filtering stage of the Appeals process to decide whether your appeal should be upheld.
• If there is a case for the appeal to be heard, it will either:

• Be referred back to the School Academic Conduct Officer  to rehear the academic misconduct case;
• Be referred to the Academic Misconduct Committee/Academic Misconduct Appeals Committee for consideration.

Other than verification checks (see Supporting Documentation below), your data will not be shared with any third parties without your further consent.

Please see below for information on what to do if you do not wish certain personal information to be made known.

Our legal basis to process your appeals data

The provision of an appeals process is provided as part of the contract we have with our students; and as part of our public task as a University.

Where you have provided any sensitive personal data (Special Category*) we will need your explicit consent in order to process this information. If you do not consent to us processing your sensitive personal data, then we will remove this data from your submission and this will not be considered. Please also see below for information on what to do if you do not wish certain personal information to be made known.

*This includes data related to your health, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sex life, sexual orientation or genetic/biometric data.

Personal Data of others

Please do not submit any unnecessary personal information, particularly about third parties.  For example, if your exceptional circumstances are based around the health of a family member, we do not need to see detailed information about that person.  Instead we need to see evidence about how the circumstances affected you.  If you do decide to give information and any supporting evidence about another person, it is your responsibility to tell that person that you have done this and how the University will be processing their information.

How long we will retain your data

As stated in the University’s retention schedule, information regarding your appeal will be kept securely for 6 years following the last action on the case.

Further privacy information

The University’s full Student Privacy Notice, which contains further information and details your rights (including withdrawing consent), can be found at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/informationgovernance/checkyourinformationisbeinghandledcorrectly/privacynotice-students/

SECTION A – Personal and Programme information

Please write your full name as shown on your Keele card. 

Student Number: this is the 8-digit number that appears on your Keele card. e.g. 00987654

Please also state your programme of study, whether you are a postgraduate or undergraduate and your year of study.

In this section you should also indicate if you are studying at Keele University campus or at one of our partner Universities, the date of the outcome of your academic misconduct investigation, and the date that you are submitting your appeal. If you are submitting your appeal after the 10 day deadline, you must give a reason as to why you are submitting your appeal late.  If you submit the appeal late, without good reason, your appeal may not be accepted.

You also need to state whether you are appeal against the decision of an Academic Conduct Officer or the Academic Misconduct Committee. If you are unsure where your outcome came from, please ask by emailing appeals@keele.ac.uk.

SECTION B and C – Grounds of Appeal 

Section B should be completed if you are appealing the decision of an Academic Conduct Officer.

Section C should be completed if you are appealing the decision of the Academic Misconduct Committee.

You should tick the appropriate box to indicate on which grounds you are appealing. 

Details of appeal case –exceptional circumstances/new evidence

You should state in a clear and concise manner the details of the circumstances/new evidence and why you did not made these known to the Academic Misconduct Officer or the Academic Misconduct Committee at the time.    Failure to give a valid reason will mean that your appeal will be turned down.  You should also indicate the time period during which you have been affected by these circumstances and how this affected your assessment submission.    It is not the role of those considering your appeal to determine this. You must list all the relevant evidence in section D that you are submitting in support of your claim. If you are not sure what to include please seek the advice of the Advice and Support at Keele (ASK) service within the Students’ Union.  Their contact details can be found at: https://keelesu.com/advice/. 

This statement will be used to determine if you have grounds for appeal so it is very important that you include everything that you wish to be considered in your appeal, even if it is very personal or embarrassing.   In such cases, you can ask for the contents of your appeal only to be made known to those considering your appeal and the Head of School if necessary. Alternatively, Regulation B.3 states that in very exceptional circumstances where you do not wish the circumstances to be revealed to your School(s), a letter from a doctor or counsellor confirming that the circumstances are very exceptional, and how these may have affected your ability to study, will be acceptable. However please note that under normal circumstances the Counselling and Mental Health Support service at the University will only provide evidence for those already accessing on-going counselling.

Details of case -procedural irregularity

You should state in a clear and concise manner the details of the procedural irregularity, in the box provided.  You should state what you believed went wrong during the academic misconduct investigation, and how you believed this had an adverse effect on the decision.  You should then list the supporting evidence that you are submitting to substantiate your claim in Section D and this should be submitted with your appeal form.

Section D Supporting Documentation

You must have evidence to support your appeal and this should be submitted with your appeal form. Examples of appropriate evidence include:

• A medical certificate clearly stating that you were ill at the time of writing the assessment.

• Letter from a counsellor (under normal circumstances the University Counselling and Mental Health Support service will only provide evidence for those already accessing on-going counselling).

• A death certificate; funeral director’s letter. You should also indicate your relationship to the deceased.
• Email correspondence between you and your proofreader.
• Drafts of your work.

Detailed information on the exceptional circumstances criteria and evidence requirements can be found in the “Exceptional Circumstances Code of Practice” which can be found at: http://www.keele.ac.uk/ec/

Evidence can be scanned and submitted via email but you must retain original copies of all your evidence.  This is important as original copies may be required by those considering your appeal at a later date.  The evidence also needs to be relevant to the time that the circumstances occurred.  For example a doctor’s note saying that you were ill for one week will not be acceptable if you are claiming that you have had medical problems for a month. If the evidence is not in English, an authenticated independent translation must also be attached.

If your evidence is not available at the time of submitting the form, you should indicate that you have requested it and when you will be able to hand it in.  Do NOT delay the submission of your form because you have to wait for a piece of evidence if this means that you will miss the submission deadline.  

There will be circumstances where it is difficult or impossible to gain independent evidence.  If this is the case please indicate this on the form and say why you are unable to obtain any. 

We may contact the organisation that has issued any supporting documentation to verify authenticity.

Please note that your appeal may be rejected if no evidence has been provided.

Declaration

Forms sent electronically must be sent from your Keele email account.  If you are not able to do this, you should print the form and sign it.   You must tick the boxes relating to the sharing of your or third parties personal data, without this consent, we may be unable to process your appeal.

False Claims

You should note that submitting an Appeals Form that contains false information, e.g. forged medical letters, will be regarded as an attempt to gain an unfair advantage in your studies.  This is academic misconduct and will be investigated under the terms of Regulation D4 by the Academic Misconduct Committee.   If proven, it is extremely likely that the penalty will be exclusion from the University. If you are registered on a programme that is subject to Regulation B5: Fitness to Practise you should note that any proven academic misconduct will also be referred to your Head of School so that any implications regarding fitness to practise may be considered.

Independent advice on making an appeal can be obtained from Advice and Support at Keele (ASK) in the Students' Union:

If you have any questions about the process, please contact Student Appeals, Complaints and Conduct Team.